We all tend to value our possessions at what they cost us, an irrational error but one that comes naturally. Corporations that make unwise purchases will keep assets on their balance sheets at inflated values for years, to avoid admitting their loss. Very few of us are enthusiastic about reforming English spelling, since the years we spent learning it would then be revealed to be wasted. Those who have struggled for years to learn to use Windows want to believe that what they have learned is worth the effort they spent on it, and their minds resist any suggestion that there might be a simpler way. So all of the time that the world's PC users spent futzing with their Windows machines, editing
windows.bat, struggling to use the help systems, wrestling with gratuitous complexity, which in truth is dead economic waste, is also an investment in a secure future for Microsoft. Based on a comment that Bill Gates has made, I suspect that Microsoft realizes this, and therefore delays their introduction of simpler, more easily-managed versions of Windows with some deliberation. But I also think that if they wait too long, they will lose the game, since Linux and the web have introduced competition into what was a secure monopoly, and the costs of complexity are real, and capitalism is pretty effective at exposing true costs. The stakes are higher than one company's survival: if the gratuitous complexity in Windows becomes deeply embedded in the culture, I suppose it could last as long as the atrocity of English spelling.
<br><br>Greg Nelson<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/18/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Bill Kendrick</b> <<a href="mailto:nbs@sonic.net">nbs@sonic.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On Tue, May 16, 2006 at 08:00:31PM -0700, jim stockford wrote:<br>> I have to say I don't buy it--the stereotypical aunt tilly cannot<br>> manage virus and other software on Windows.<br><snip><br>> People who can do a little on Windows have climbed a (available,
<br>> well-documented) learning curve and are clinging there, shivering on<br>> the mountain side, clutching at what's familiar, afraid of letting go.<br><br>_Seriously_! :^)<br><br>This is why, why I replaced my dad's ancient Mac OS 9 system, I dropped in
<br>a PC running Linux and KDE. He has had _very_ few problems with it, and<br>between myself and friendly folks from NBLUG, it has needed near<br>0 maintenance, and has been easy enough for my dad to use (jotting down<br>
notes to himself for this-and-that). It also cost a grand total of $50<br>for the PC, if I recall correctly.<br><br>A Windows get-up would've been way more expensive to install, and way more<br>of a pain-in-the-ass to maintain. Plus, the UI is so freaking inconsistent
<br>that I imagine it would have been way harder for my dad to deal with,<br>coming from a Mac.<br><br>--<br>-bill!<br><a href="mailto:bill@newbreedsoftware.com">bill@newbreedsoftware.com</a><br><a href="http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/">
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/</a><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>sf-lug mailing list<br><a href="mailto:sf-lug@linuxmafia.com">sf-lug@linuxmafia.com</a><br><a href="http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/sf-lug">
http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/sf-lug</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Sincerely,<br><br>Greg Nelson<br><a href="mailto:greg@perlnelson.org">greg@perlnelson.org</a><br>839 Richardson Ct Palo Alto, CA USA 94303
<br>(650) 856 8103 (home) (650) 856 8103 (office) (650) 954 5338 (mobile)